Biopolymer-chitosan based supramolecular hydrogels as solid state electrolytes for electrochemical energy storage.

A biopolymer-chitosan based Supramolecular Hydrogel type solid state Electrolyte (SHE) is prepared via a simple and fast cross-linking between chitosan and Li+/Ag+. The obtained SHE itself shows high thermal stability and excellent flexible and mouldable properties. When integrated in an asymmetric supercapacitor with MnO2 as the positive electrode and active carbon as the negative electrode, it can survive more than 10 000 cycles with the areal capacity of 10 mF cm-2 at the 1.8 mA cm-2 current density.